Sedition subverts age of free speech, protesters say

A small group of protesters gathered outside the Auckland District Court yesterday to condemn a law which they say is archaic in an age of free speech.

Lawyer Ben Thomas and magazine editor "Bomber" were among those protesting at sedition charges laid against companion Timothy Selwyn.

Mr Selwyn is charged with making a seditious statement and conspiracy to commit sedition after allegedly distributing anarchic "Confiscation Day" leaflets.

Sedition is defined as "speech, writing or behaviour intended to encourage rebellion or resistance against the government".

He is further charged with intentional damage over an axe attack on a window at Prime Minister Helen Clark's Sandringham Road electorate office.

The leaflet denounces the Foreshore and Seabed Act and attempts to explain the axe attack as symbolic.

The leaflet said: "The broken glass symbolises the broken faith, broken trust and shattered justice, our axe symbolises the steadfastness of our determination."

Mr Selwyn would not say if the axe attack and the leaflets were the work of the same person. "The jury will decide all of those issues."

What had upset the protesters was the fact such a charge - not actually carried to prosecution in decades - should still exist.

"Either everyone is a seditionist or no one is," said Mr Thomas.

"You could say Opposition MPs were guilty of initiating lawlessness by saying police should not catch speeding motorists."

Another protester said the sedition charges were "a disproportionate and inappropriate use of police resources".

Mr Selwyn, who described his occupation as "basically putting my website together" will return to court in May for a depositions hearing on the sedition charges.